October 2007

October 30, 2007

One of the most frequent questions I am asked when I am out speaking or at book signings is, "What other books do you recommend?" Because there seems to be such a hunger for good books and worthwhile leadership material, I guess it can't hurt for me to share a list of books that have had a big impact on my life. Today I would like to limit that list to the top leadership books I have read in the past few years. I hope you find them as helpful and inspiring as I did! (The toughest part about doing this was paring it down to a small enough list to be manageable. There is so much great material out there!) Here they are, in no particular order:

October 29, 2007

There are a preponderance of leadership examples to be taken from the annals of military conflict.These are both interesting and instructional.Perhaps the reason so many demonstrations of the principles of leadership are available from battles and wars is true leadership becomes most visible at times of extreme circumstances.War is as extreme as it gets.But most of us are not engaged in wars and battles, at least not of the military variety.We can benefit from the examples of everyday people living everyday lives that utilize and implement the same leadership principles demonstrated by war heroes.

One such example is Samuel Clemens, whose famous pen name became Mark Twain. Few would be quick to consider Twain as a leader.In fact, a case could be made for calling him a coward: twice he fled the scene when faced with dangerous circumstances.After causing a conflict with another man, Twain skipped town when threatened with a duel.Also, many have speculated that when Twain went to Nevada with his brother it was largely to escape the American Civil War. But Mark Twain’s example is enriching precisely because he resists the stereotypical hero cast.He was not brave or courageous in the physical sense, or influential in assembling teams of people aligned in some great common purpose.But leadership and leadership principles are more profound and at the same time more subtle than the expected heroic examples.Leadership is also about results, change, assaulting the status quo, having the determination and the individuality to express oneself sincerely in the face of opposition, and about persisting through trying circumstances.And largely, leadership is about taking a group of people to a place where they have never been before.These are precisely the things Mark Twain did.

Born in 1835, Mark Twain has been accused of living a life of profound “accidental” timing.He came of age coincident with the great (but short-lived) steamboat era, and became one of its romantic captains. Twain was on hand as a speculator in Carson City just after silver was discovered there at the world famous Comstock Mines.He experienced the Wild West when it was still wild; seeing gun fights, buffalo hunts, stage coach travel, and the Pony Express first-hand.He had also seen slavery up close and personal.His father in law was active in the Underground Railroad and helped Frederick Douglass escape.Twain saw first-hand the birth of the American Red Cross, the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871, the beginning of the United States Income Tax, experienced some of the first oceanic steamship travel, was a participant on the first organized luxury tour in U. S. history, was on hand in the gallery to see the vote for the impeachment of president Andrew Johnson, and had the first private telephone in his city installed in his house.

Examining the life of Mark Twain is like taking a tour around the globe and meeting all the people of caliber alive at that time.He was personally acquainted with President U.S. Grant, and was instrumental in encouraging Grant to write his now famous memoirs.Twain was friends with Artemous Ward, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William James, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Daniel Beard, the founder of the Boy Scouts.He worked for Senator Stewart while the statesman drafted the fifteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Twain was on hand with Anson Burlingame and the first treaty of the United States with China.Twain was instrumental in encouraging rich benefactors to give scholarship money to Helen Keller.He met the original “Siamese Twins” Chang and Eng.He introduced Winston Churchill at the Waldorf Astoria.He dined with Teddy Roosevelt (who hated him), and played put-put golf with Woodrow Wilson.Twain was friendly with Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria, and the Prince of Wales (“Edward the Conqueror”, later King Edward VII).Andrew Carnegie made his famous admonition to Mark Twain about “putting all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket,” commenting on Twain’s terrible history of speculative investing and diversification.Twain knew Brigham Young, Jefferson Davis, Napoleon III, and stayed with Czar Aleksandr II, Emperor of Russia.He was photographed by Matthew Brady, was friends with Frederick Douglass, and knew Horace Greeley the abolitionist and founder of the New York Tribune.Twain knew P.T. Barnum of circus fame, and the famous British statesman Benjamin Disraeli, and he dined with Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who would lead that country and the world into the first World War.

Arguably, there has never been an American who was so intermingled with the trends and trend makers of his day as was Mark Twain.As a writer, Twain could not have hoped for more exposure to material upon which to comment and be inspired.Twain was on hand with a front row seat for most of the changes taking place in the new United States and around the world.His personal contact with dying trends and his direct involvement in new ones gave him a unique perspective that found its way to his pen.When Twain got involved in journalism the profession was just entering its own budding era.Twain began writing just as America, an infant country struggling for eminence on the world’s stage, was finding its own voice.Again, Twain was right in the middle of change.He was one of the first writers to begin using recorded dictations, he turned in the first type-written manuscript to a publisher, and he conducted some of the world’s first newspaper interviews.

But Twain’s involvement with trends new and old, his familiarity with the great names of his day, and his extensive experiences are not really the sum and substance of his leadership example.The reason Mark Twain is noteworthy as a leader is because of the changes he himself brought about in the American literary voice.He was a daring pioneer and a “first of firsts.”He was one of the first to write dialogue phonetically as it is actually spoken.He was one of the first to give slaves, children, southerners, and a wide range of dialects their true voice.His writing wasn’t seen as proper and didn’t follow the unwritten rules that were expected at the time.He enraged literary critics with his style because it was seen as lowly and disgusting.Mark Twain, whose works seem so harmless to our standards today, was nearly scandalous in his own.Twain’s new territory was the staking out of honesty in writing.He wrote it the way it actually was, without bowing to pretense or aristocratic rules, and he wrote to a country about a country at a time when that country was itself coming of age.According to biographer Ron Powers, “. . . the American Vandal was more than the sum of these parts.In his hard-headed, bull-in-a-china-shop way, he was the ambassador of a newly industrialized, populous, and therefore consequential America – no longer the familiar apologist for a backwoods culture sneered at by the French and English and Italian aristocracy, but the envy of all these, and damned proud of it.” Twain’s leadership was evident in the way he showed America to itself.

Toward the end of his life, Twain got even more outspoken, especially against the tendencies in America toward imperialism.Also, according to Powers, “Mark Twain was virtually alone among journalists in his reportage of Jewish Europeans as caught in the pincers of rising nationalist antagonisms.”When warned of how his new tirades might erode the goodwill he had accumulated through years of being America’s top entertainer, Twain responded:

“I can’t understand it!You are a public guide & teacher, Joe, & are under a heavy responsibility to men, young & old; if you teach your people – as you teach me – to hide their opinions when they believe their flag is being abused & dishonored, lest the utterance do them & a publisher a damage, how do you answer for it to your conscience?You are sorry for me; in the fair way of give & take, I am willing to be a little sorry for you.”

Powers wrote, “The publishing industry could not handle his [Twain’s] strongest ideas.” Twain himself wrote, “Sometimes my feelings are so hot that I have to take to the pen and pour them out on paper to keep them from setting me afire inside: then all that ink and labor are wasted, because I can’t print the result.”Leaders assault the status quo.They can’t stand to leave things the way they found them.Leaders also deal in reality, no matter what other people think.They are driven by what they believe and have to do what they feel called to do.And leaders must be true to their conscience.They don’t compromise their principles; they stand for what they believe in, even if it is costly.Leadership is also about getting results.Here again, Twain’s example shines through.Mark Twain changed the face of American literature, entertainment, and the public image of the new country itself.

Each of us must understand that we are all called upon to lead at some point, and probably many points, in our lives.We will be called upon in big ways and small. We need not be military leaders involved in colossal struggles.We need not have positions of power or authority.We simply need to follow our convictions, respond to the inner call to greatness, take a hold of whatever it is God has seen fit to assign us to do, and do it with all honesty and might.Confronting brutal reality, assaulting the status quo, and doing that which is in us to do, are the hallmarks of leadership available to everyone.May the Mark Twains of our history inspire us to lead in whatever capacity in which we find ourselves.

October 16, 2007

Walt Disney the school boy was not a good student.He would just as soon doodle and draw cartoons in class as learn something.But, like most leaders, he was a big reader and a hard worker; holding down several odd jobs at once while still young.His earliest dream was to become a cartoonist.He sent dozens of submissions to publishers only to receive rejection after rejection.

While still in his teens he formed a small company that produced cartoons.He hired some cartoonists to execute on his many good ideas.The little firm prospered for a while and then floundered.He tried again and lost again.But along the way he was gaining experience and beginning to surround himself with the type of capable people who would share his vision and help bring his ideas into American folklore.

At one point in his early, lonely, broke years, Disney was offered a secure job at a jelly factory.To the disbelief of his family, Disney refused.He wasn’t interested in a secure job.He had a vision for being involved in the entertainment industry and he knew his talents pointed him in that direction.With the drive and determination common to all great leaders, Disney refused to sell his dreams short for the lure of security.

Walt Disney dreamed continually about making it in the entertainment industry.Finally he came to realize that the only way he could do it would be through cartoons.In his relentless efforts to achieve this, Walt Disney learned a lesson every leader must learn; how to be tough.In the words of biographer Bob Thomas, “It wasn’t enough to be an original and creative artist, Disney learned; survival in the film business required a jungle toughness.”

Disney was also no great administrator, but he had a knack for surrounding himself with talent.For one, his brother Roy proved an invaluable partner, financial wizard, and loyal supporter throughout Walt’s career.Ub Iwerks was perhaps the nation’s top cartoon talent, and Walt teamed up with Iwerks to create Disney’s most timeless character, Mickey Mouse.Most of all, Walt Disney had that key leadership ingredient of being able to get others caught up in his visions.He would enthuse about this idea or that until a whole room of artists were infected with his picture of what could be.Then Disney would allow their individual creative efforts to flourish toward the completion of his vision.Bob Thomas said, “Walt was developing one of his most valuable traits: the ability to recognize a man’s creative potential and force him to achieve it.”

Walt Disney was also an extremely hard worker.He was often the first in the office and the last to leave.As a matter of fact, his late night tours of his artists’ desks became legendary, and artists would often leave their most prized unfinished work out at the end of the day in hopes that Disney would see them and make comment.More often than not, he did.The secret of Disney’s hard work was his passion.He would get onto an idea or vision for something and pour himself into with everything he had.Many, many times throughout his storied (no pun intended) career, Disney would pay no attention to finances or the monetary risks of a project.He was committed to making real the vision he carried in his mind’s eye and no price was too big or risky to bring it about.It was this boldness, this passion, this contagious enthusiasm that was the source of his ability to inspire so many talented people in his organization.Walt Disney once said, “I happen to be an inquisitive guy, and when I see things I don’t like, I start thinking, why do they have to be like this and how can I improve them?”

In 1931 Walt Disney suffered a nervous breakdown.He had been repeatedly double-crossed in a cut-throat industry.He had lost many talented artists to competing studios.He had been continually wracked by financial problems.His ideas had been stolen by cheap imitators, and, just like any leader, he had his skeptics.Bob Thomas wrote, “Many worries and the stress of leading a crew of volatile, talented artists through uncharted territory began to wear on Walt.”And in a statement that clearly demonstrates Disney’s inability to rest on his achievements, Thomas wrote, “He had been pushing himself and his animators hard, seeking greater quality in the cartoons instead of coasting on his already substantial reputation.”But Disney’s eternal optimism soon revived him and he was as driven as ever to make his dreams come true.Walt Disney, said those that were close to him, seemed to have a strong sense of his mortality.This weighed on him heavily and drove him in a race against time to accomplish all the work he wanted to do.

In all, Disney’s career spanned almost the entire entertainment industry.His name became synonymous with quality family entertainment.He was a pioneer in animated short films, then the first to add sound to a short animation.He was the first to produce animation in color, and again the first to produce a full-length animation film. He progressed to live-action movies, nature films, and pioneered children’s programming on television.And as a crescendo to an already staggering list of achievements, he pioneered the world of outdoor entertainment by creating Disneyland and launching Disney World before his death.

In the late 1960’s Disney was invited to the White House by President Lyndon Johnson and awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom.The citations contained the words, “Artist, impresario, in the course of entertaining an age, Walt Disney has created an American folklore.”What the citation could have just as easily said was that Walt Disney was a leader.Disney’s leadership ability was the engine behind his success.He was a man driven by his dreams and his vision for how things should be.He could not accept the status quo and felt called to change things for the better.He worked very hard throughout his life, not even slowing down when his success and fame eclipsed him.Disney was optimistic and perseverant, and he knew how to spread his enthusiasm to others of higher talent in specific areas.Risk taking was natural to him, to the point where he didn’t even worry about the risk because he could “see” the vision so strongly he just knew he could get there.At several points during his life he said no to the temptations of complacency or security, always pushing forward for the next big dream.He would master one form of entertainment and then move onward to the next.

From a young man learning to lead a small group of intractable artists, to an elder scion of industry leading millions through a magical world of make-believe, Walt Disney was an excellent picture of leadership.Perhaps his brother Roy said it best, “My brother Walt and I first went into business together almost a half century ago. And he was really, in my opinion, truly a genius – creative, with great determination, singleness of purpose and drive; and through his entire life he was never pushed off his course or diverted to other things.”

Today, the name Disney connotes many things.For most, it is a place where they dream of taking that special family vacation someday before the kids grow up.For many, it is cartoon characters and Mickey Mouse and family movies.But for everyone, the name is familiar.Disney’s world of creations continues to grow and prosper to incredible proportions long after the death of the man who envisioned it all.The story of Walt Disney should be an inspiration to anyone who cherishes the hope that one person can make a difference.Because Disney and its parks, characters, cruise lines, television network, and brand images are an everyday part of our lexicon, most people don’t stop to think that the Disney empire was once non-existent, not so long ago.What is common everyday reality for us was once a dream in one man’s mind.Success on such a staggering scale should make each of us stop and think about what special gifts we have, what dreams we harbor, and what contributions we can make.Driven by those visions, we unlock our potential with the keys of leadership, first leading ourselves away from complacency and security and toward our dreams, then leading others by contagion in the same direction.Over time, the ripple effect of our leadership, like that of Walt Disney, can be immeasurable.

October 12, 2007

One of the key premises in the art of leadership is that one person can make a difference. In a complicated world, with forces for change coming at us from seemingly all directions, it is easy to feel small and incapable.It is easy to shrug off our highest aspirations and think, “What’s the use?”This becomes doubly tempting when meeting challenges, and when our best intentions turn out to be more difficult, and more work than we expected.At that point it is more critical than ever to realize that we as an individual have enormous power to not only influence the course of events around us, but to have a major and lasting effect on the impact of those events.

In the long rich history of the age of fighting sail, when complicated wooden warships plied the oceans, privateers were civilian sailing vessels that had been given governmental approval to make war at will upon enemy shipping.Privateers could thus both claim patriotism and wealth while inflicting pain on an enemy country.Privateering was very popular and very effective; in a way, it was the nautical version of today’s guerilla warfare, with a little bit of mercenary flavor thrown in.

In the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the infantile United States, a war many called the second war of independence, American privateers wreaked havoc upon the mighty British.As a matter of fact, their efforts against the crown were far more successful than those of the relatively small American navy.Author John Lehman wrote, “During the War there were 513 registered privateers and they took about 2,300 British merchant ships compared to 165 taken by the Navy.”That means that the average American privateer captured or destroyed more than four enemy ships each.

One of these privateers was captained by Samuel C. Reid.His story provides a compelling snapshot from history that supports the premise that one individual can make a difference.In fact, Reid’s story makes the case that one man’s efforts can have a staggering impact, with ramifications that are unforeseen at the time.

Reid was captain of the General Armstrong, a schooner mounting only nine guns and having a crew of about ninety men.Reid and his crew were able to break out of the British blockade of New York in a dead calm by pumping water on the sails to capture all possible wind, and by towing the ship with row boats.He sailed to Fayal harbor in the Azores, and arrived just before a British squadron of three battle ships of varying size and armament.The squadron was on its way to New Orleans with British troops to assist in the attack on the city.First, however, seeing the General Armstrong in Fayal, the squadron decided to violate Portuguese neutrality and attack the American privateer.

The first wave of attack was several small boats from the British squadron.When they failed to take the General Armstrong, the next attack went in at midnight with fourteen boats and 600 men.Many of these attackers were successful in climbing aboard the General Armstrong. The battle was fierce hand-to-hand combat and casualties were high, and Reid himself killed the commander of the raid.Once again, the British attack was repulsed.Expecting another attempt, Reid moved his ship closer to the shore so he could use the guns from both sides of his ship on one side.He cut new gun ports in the hull and aimed his full complement of weapons seaward.In the early morning the smallest of the three ships in the British squadron attacked, primarily because it could come in closest to shore without running aground.In a raging battle of the cannon from both ships, the British ship was forced to back off.At this point the British had had enough.They next maneuvered their largest battleship in the squadron, a full 78 gun man-of-war, into position to bombard the tiny American privateer.Reid countered by setting fire to his own ship and sinking her rather than letting the enemy capture her.His men escaped to safety ashore.In the entirety of the engagement, some four distinct skirmishes, the British suffered 34 killed and 68 wounded, with the Americans 2 killed and only 7 wounded.The little ship had held out remarkably well against superior fire power and numbers.In a gesture illustrative of the chivalry between officers occasionally found in wars in those times, the British Consulate on shore invited Captain Reid to tea where he was given three cheers by the surviving British officers for his bravery and gallantry in the battle.

Reid was only doing his duty.He took responsibility to command his tiny schooner to the best of his ability and put up a stiff resistance to a fierce enemy under hopeless odds.His crew fought viciously and creatively in a complicated warship under dangerous conditions; proof of good leadership and unity.As a leader, Captain Reid did was what required, when it was required, to the best of his ability.

What Captain Reid could not have foreseen, however, as is true with many in leadership, is the enormous ramifications of his gallant stand at the Battle of Fayal.According to John Lehman, “Reid had delayed the British expedition against New Orleans for ten days.”The extra time allowed General Andrew Jackson to arrive on scene in New Orleans, take martial control of the panicked town, assemble his patch-work army of pirates, militia, and escaped slaves, and prepare his defenses.What resulted was the most lop-sided battle of the entire war as the British were badly defeated, and a peace that brought the hostility between the United States and her former motherland to an end forever.The Battle of New Orleans could have ended differently.Andrew Jackson later told Captain Reid himself, “If there had been no Battle of Fayal, there would have been no Battle of New Orleans.”Had that happened, the tentative treaty that had been signed to end the war most likely would have been revoked or at least amended less favorably to the United States, keeping the door open to future hostility.Instead, it sealed the deal on a lasting peace between the two nations.

The story of Captain Reid and his stand at the Battle of Fayal clearly illustrates the difference that one person can make.How easy would it have been for Reid to simply flee from the enemy in his tiny, much faster ship? How easily could he have fired a few shots in defense, as was customary in hopeless situations, and then “haul down his colors” and surrender?Or, he could have simply abandoned his ship and escaped to shore.But Reid chose to stand and fight, and his men with him.That simple decision, and their gallant execution of it, made a huge difference on the world’s stage.That is the kind of far-reaching affect that one person can have.That is the difference leadership makes.If Reid hadn’t stood, if his men hadn’t fought, if they hadn’t delayed the British, then General Jackson might not have been ready, the British may have prevailed in the Battle of New Orleans, and all of Western history would be different.But they stood.Reid led.And it made all the difference.

October 09, 2007

The name Benjamin Franklin is so familiar it is almost a cliché.School children are introduced to him as the gray haired man flying a kite in a thunderstorm, or as the contemplative elder statesman sitting in the Pennsylvania State House and advising upon the drafting of the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution.Franklin is one of the most famous founding fathers, and after more than two centuries, there are still those who have trouble understanding why.As author Gordon S. Wood wrote of Franklin’s return to North America after the signing of the peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War, “When he arrived in 1785, his fellow Americans did not know what to make of him.They knew he was an international hero, along with Washington the most celebrated American in the world, but they were not quite sure why.He had not led the revolutionary movement like John Adams.He had not written a great revolutionary document like Jefferson.He had not led armies like Washington.”

When writing about or discussing leadership, it is relatively easy for military and political figures to be examined as examples.The reason for this is that their lives are lived very much in conflict and battle, and the principles of leadership that apply to “every day” life are seen in broader relief in the context of extreme and dangerous circumstances.This is why so many leadership books, including our own, are filled with generals and statesman.Examining Benjamin Franklin as an example of leadership principles is not so straight forward, however.Seeing his genius in the leadership category requires a little deeper inspection.But the reward for this extra effort is one of the richest and most motivating examples of leadership one can find.

The life of Benjamin Franklin can best be summarized by breaking it into three distinct phases.In the first phase, Franklin was a businessman.As most everybody knows, he rose from obscure and humble beginnings (a much larger barrier to advancement in those days than it is in ours) to become what we would today call a multi-millionaire.He worked hard, had a great mentor and patron, and learned his trade (printing) well.He became not just a wealthy printer but a sophisticated entrepreneur.He was involved in the establishment of over eighteen paper mills, owned an extensive portfolio of rental properties, was a creditor to other business owners, and was involved in setting up other print shops on the model of his first one in Philadelphia.He also became a famous writer during this same time.He used his abilities and efforts to establish businesses that he could safely leave to the conduct of others, and by the age of forty seven he was free to pursue other things.In the second phase of his life, Franklin was a philosopher and scientist.Although he had been sent to England as the colony of Pennsylvania’s ambassador to the English throne, his passion was scientific thought and discovery.He became an esteemed member of the Philosophical Society in London and was world famous for his real contribution to the understanding of electricity.He also invented the Franklin stove, bifocals, an instrument for which Mozart created a musical score, and an almost endless list of contraptions.During this time, of course, he continued to write. It was in this second phase of Franklin’s life that he was the most happy.He was famous, well-respected among his peers, dined with Kings and Lords all over Europe, and was friends with most of Europe’s esteemed minds of the day.He fully expected to live out the rest of his life in England, and couldn’t even be compelled to sail home for the marriage of his only son, the birth of his grandchild, or the waning health of his wife.But circumstances and his own convictions thrust him into the third phase of his life; that of a patriot and American “founding father.”He would sail home in 1775 and become one of the most passionate patriots in the Revolution.

It is in the dramatic circumstances of Franklin’s transition from the second phase of his life into this third phase that most demonstrates his leadership ability.What transpired would change his life, and the course of American history, forever.

Franklin was slow to comprehend the forces of change that were swirling in the North American colonies.The violent reaction in North America to the 1765 Stamp Act shook caught him by surprise.He had trouble understanding the feelings of repression brewing back home.But an event took place that brought him into the revolutionary spirit with fervor.

By this time he was not only the representative of Pennsylvania to the English government, but of several others as well, including Massachusetts.Somehow a pack of private letters from the Massachusetts lieutenant governor Thomas Hutchinson got into Franklin’s hands.In the letters, Hutchinson was imploring the British government to take more control of the colonies so that they would remain dependent on England.Franklin sent these letters to officials in Massachusetts with the intent of demonstrating that the problems with the mother country were not official English policy, but the machinations of a few bad apples such as Hutchinson. In the words of Wood, “This was a gross miscalculation, for the letters he sent to Massachusetts only further inflamed the imperial crisis.Contrary to much conventional wisdom, Franklin was not at all a shrewd politician or a discerning judge of popular passions, certainly not of the prerevolutionary passions of these years.” The letters were printed in Boston newspapers.Word soon got back to England about the Hutchinson letters and Franklin’s involvement in the affair finally became public once Franklin stepped forward and admitted to his involvement in order to stop a duel between others involved in accusations.Franklin firmly defended himself by saying that the letters weren’t private, but from public officials about public matters.As author H.W. Brands wrote,

“If any in England expected repentance [from Franklin] they certainly did not get it.Franklin’s assertiveness condemned him the more in the eyes of those who considered Boston a nest of sedition and judged all who spoke for Boston abettors of rebellion.Until now Franklin – the famous Franklin, scientist and philosopher feted throughout the civilized world – had been above effective reproach.His admission of responsibility for transmitting the purloined letters afforded his foes the opening they had long sought.”

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts House had petitioned the government in England to remove Hutchinson from his position.Franklin was called to the Privy Council hearing on the matter.The opposing counsel was not just a lawyer, but a man named Alexander Wedderburn, the solicitor general.Wedderburn was feared for his acidic and combative style and his lack of scruples when it came to his own political ambition.Brands wrote, “Franklin had hoped to argue for Hutchinson’s dismissal on political grounds; the appearance of Wedderburn indicated that the government intended to mount a legal – and personal – counteroffensive.Moreover, the target of the counteroffensive would not be Massachusetts but Franklin.”Seeing this, Franklin asked for legal representation and was granted three weeks before the Privy Council would reconvene.It is here where Franklin, normally the master of timing, became its victim.Between the first and second Privy Council meetings, the Boston Tea Party took place.This event shocked London and confirmed for most that the inhabitants of Boston were rebels, making Hutchinson look like a heroic defender of the British interests in a hostile environment. Furthermore, and bad news for Franklin, the Boston Tea Party had outraged officials in London, and Franklin was the on hand to feel the brunt of their wrath.

The second Privy Council meeting was a public spectacle, and very unlike normal, was overwhelmingly well attended.The large hall, called the “Cock Pit,” was filled with dukes and viscounts and sirs and members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister.Forgetting any pretense of the purpose of the original meeting, solicitor general Wedderburn launched into a tirade against Franklin that was so severe, so slanderous, that most of it was deemed unfit for print.He attacked Franklin’s character, his intelligence, his loyalty, his reputation, and made statements such as, “I hope, my Lords, you will mark and brand the man . . . .He has forfeited all the respect of societies and of men.”As the diatribe continued, the audience laughed and jeered at Franklin’s expense.Franklin sat motionless and silent, refusing to change even his facial expression.Wedderburn continued by blaming the rebellious colonies on Franklin by saying, “these innocent, well-meaning farmers, which compose the bulk of the [Massachusetts] Assembly,” were not responsible for the rebellion.Instead Franklin was the “first mover and prime conductor, the actor and secret spring, the inventor and first planner.”This was quite a charge in itself, since Franklin hadn’t even been there in years!

Franklin maintained his composure.Wedderburn continued, feeding off the growing approval of the crowd, getting louder and more belligerent.On and on he went.Although his expression betrayed his feelings, Franklin grew hotter and hotter. He sat rigid and frozen, however.Eye witness Edward Bancroft wrote, “The Doctor was dressed in a full dress suit of spotted Manchester velvet and stood conspicuously erect without the smallest movement of any part of his body.”Wedderburn continued for over an hour, and when he had finally finished, Franklin refused to speak.

Two weeks later Franklin was still fuming.He was angrier for the public principles violated than for his own sake.He wrote to a friend,

“When I see that all petitions and complaints of grievances are so odious to government that even the mere pipe which conveys them becomes obnoxious, I am at a loss to know how peace and union is to be maintained or restored between the parts of the empire.Grievances cannot be redressed unless they are known; and they cannot be known but through complaints and petitions.If these are deemed affronts, and the messengers punished as offenders, who will henceforth send petitions? And who will deliver them? Where complaining is a crime, hope becomes despair.”

Following the events in the Cock Pit, the government moved to remove Franklin from his long-held and prestigious position of deputy post master.According to Brands, “Such action was discreditable in itself; it was even more pernicious in its prospect.Appointments to the post office . . . were being held hostage to adherence to the policies of whatever ministry happened to hold power.”In other words, disagree with those in power, and they would use their power to break you.It was a classic case of “shoot the messenger.”But the English government didn’t stop there.It immediately passed the Boston Port Act, effectively closing Boston down to commercial trade.This outrage was followed soon thereafter by the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, the Quartering Act, and the Quebec Act.These acts would come to be called the “Intolerable Acts,” and would represent a point of no return in the conflict.In the following weeks the colonies began sending delegates to an emergency continental convention.

To Franklin’s credit, he hung around London for some time afterwards, and used all his skills and connections to get motions into Parliament attempting to reverse the path toward war with the colonies.Two of these motions became official, and both were defeated.Regarding the bullheaded charge of the officials in the English government down the path toward war, Edmund Burke said, “A great empire and little minds go ill together.”

Finally, having lost all hope of finding cooler heads to prevail, Franklin sailed for North America.Wood wrote, “Franklin had had his deepest aspirations thwarted by the officials of the British government, and he had been personally humiliated by them as none of the other revolutionaries had been.”The Franklin that stepped ashore in North America was a vastly different man that the one that had departed so many years before.This Franklin was a man on a mission, with a clear view of how things really stood with mother England.He had been there.He had seen it for himself.He had exhausted every bit of self control and diplomacy he could muster in the cause of maintaining harmony and justice between the two sides.And he had suffered personally for his attempts.

In the decade to follow, Franklin would be as instrumental in the success of the War for Independence as anyone.He would spend eight years in France as ambassador to King Louis XVI.He would leverage his international fame to garner good will and connections.He would hone his “folksy American” image to further his objectives.He would befriend the high-born, the nobles, and the many courtiers of Louis’ court.He would patiently and persistently build a bridge of trust between himself and the French government.And finally, after years and years of painstaking effort, managing the squabbling ambassadors the colonies sent to help him, Franklin would accomplish his coup de grace.He would forge an alliance with the mighty French government on behalf of the fledgling colonies.The day he signed the former papers of alliance with England’s only worthy rival, Franklin showed up wearing the same exact suit he had worn that day years before in the Cock Pit.He had not forgotten.He had gotten the final laugh.According to Wood, “[Franklin] was the greatest diplomat America ever had.Not only did he bring the monarchy of Louis XVI into the war on behalf of the new Republic, but during the course of that long war he extracted loan after loan from an increasingly impoverished French government.No other American could have done that.”The money and munitions given by the French, followed by troops and finally ships, were irreplaceable in the colonial victory in the Revolutionary War.Without such support, Washington and his battered troops and Congress and its empty coffers would never have made it.

In the broad swoop of this story the leadership lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin are numerous.First of all, he reversed his position on the rebellion growing in America when new information presented itself.Next, he risked his reputation and world renown, and even a secure financial government post, by getting involved in the politics of the colonies’ unrest.He handled himself with dignity under outrageous circumstances, and didn’t allow his personal pain prevent him from making further overtures of peace.But once he saw the truth for what it was, he became a fervent champion of its cause.As a true leader, he could not stand to leave the status quo the status quo.Injustice was wrong, and no amount of personal prestige or comfort would be enough to make him “play it safe.”Franklin was also patient, and never lost sight of the big picture, working steadily and methodically for years to accomplish his master stroke. To use military terminology, Franklin kept his view at the high “campaign” level, rather than get distracted at the detailed “battle” level.If leadership is influence, Franklin had droves of it: he found his way through a complicated French society and influenced a monarchy to support a rebellion attempting to overthrow another monarchy.That’s influence.If leadership is having vision, Franklin was a giant.Arriving back in the colonies in 1775, most historians agree he was among the first to realize that it was independence or nothing.While others clamored for middle ground and appeasement Franklin counseled whole hearted resistance.

In the end, Benjamin Franklin is noteworthy for so many things he is almost an intimidating figure peering through history at the rest of us as though we could and should do more.But towering above his wide range of accomplishments is the legacy of freedom and independence he helped usher into existence.His greatest achievement did not come from his scientific mind, or his inventive tendencies, or his philosophical wisdom.Franklin’s greatest contribution came from his role as a leader.Anyone studying leadership and aspiring to utilize God’s gifts to the fullest extent would be wise to study his example.

October 06, 2007

Orrin and I wish to express a hearty thank you to everyone who has ordered an advance copy of the latest version of the Launching a Leadership Revolution book published by Business Plus. Thanks also to our editor, Rick Wolff, and everyone who has been involved at Hachette Book Group USA. You have been great. A great big thank you also goes out to Matt Abraham, our publicist, who has done such an outstanding job of creating excitement around the book's upcoming release. You are a tireless friend and warrior! We hope everyone enjoys the book and gains valuable assistance in maximizing your leadership ability.